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In the video game industry, 2023 saw significant changes within larger publishers and developers. Microsoft, after having satisfied worldwide regulatory bodies, completed its US$69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, making them the third largest game publisher in the world. Embracer Group, which had been in an acquisition spree over the previous few years, had an estimated $2 billion deal fall through, causing many of the studios under Embracer to either lay off staff or close entirely. Similar layoffs were seen at Unity, Amazon, ByteDance, Epic Games, Bungie, and Ubisoft, leading to over 9,000 jobs lost in the industry in 2023 and part of a larger trend of layoffs at technology companies in 2023. [1] [2] [3]
Baldur's Gate 3 was the first game to sweep the five major awards: the Golden Joystick Awards, the Game Awards, the D.I.C.E. Awards, the Game Developers Choice Awards, and the BAFTA Games Awards. [4]
The number of highly praised video games released in 2023 was considered unusually high compared to most years, with 25 games having a 90 out of 100 or better aggregate score on Metacritic by October 2023; this made it the best year by number of acclaimed games, the largest since 2004. [9] This year was comparable to the slate of highly praised releases in 1992, 1997 and 2008. [10] The reasons for this include the fact that most of the top games were delayed or not even developed until after the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, leading to greater quality in gaming overall, and that the ninth generation of consoles had become entrenched for developers. [9] [11]
The following table lists the top-rated games released in 2023 based on Metacritic, which generally considers expansions as separate entities.
Title | Developer(s) | Publisher(s) | Release | Platform(s) | Average score |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo | May 12, 2023 | NS | 96 |
Baldur's Gate 3 | Larian Studios | August 3, 2023 | macOS, PS5, Win, XSX/S | 96 | |
Metroid Prime Remastered | Retro Studios | Nintendo | February 8, 2023 | NS | 94 |
Resident Evil 4 | Capcom | March 24, 2023 | iOS, iPadOS, macOS, PS4, PS5, Win, XSX/S | 93 | |
Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Expansion Pass Wave 4 - Future Redeemed | Monolith Soft | Nintendo | April 25, 2023 | NS | 92 |
Street Fighter 6 | Capcom | June 2, 2023 | Arcade, PC, PS4, PS5, Win, XSX/S | 92 | |
Super Mario Bros. Wonder | Nintendo EPD | Nintendo | October 20, 2023 | NS | 92 |
Against the Storm | Eremite Games | Hooded Horse | December 8, 2023 | Win | 91 |
Slay the Princess | Black Tabby Games | October 23, 2023 | Linux, macOS, NS, PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX/S | 90 | |
Dave the Diver | Mintrocket | June 28, 2023 | macOS, NS, PS4, PS5, Win | 90 | |
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective | Capcom | June 30, 2023 | Android, iOS, NS, PS4, Win, XBO | 90 | |
Videoverse | Kinmoku | August 7, 2023 | Linux, macOS, Win | 90 | |
Quake II - Enhanced Edition | Nightdive Studios | Bethesda Softworks | August 10, 2023 | NS, PS4, PS5, Win, XBO, XSX/S | 90 |
The Making of Karateka | Digital Eclipse | August 29, 2023 | NS, PC, PS4, PS5, XBO, XSX/S | 90 | |
Jack Jeanne | Broccoli | Aksys Games | June 15, 2023 | Android, iOS, NS | 90 |
Marvel's Spider-Man 2 | Insomniac Games | Sony Interactive Entertainment | October 20, 2023 | PS5 | 90 |
Tents & Trees | Frozax Games | March 14, 2023 | NS | 90 | |
Walkabout Mini Golf | Mighty Coconut, LLC | May 11, 2023 | PS5 | 90 |
Month | Day(s) | Event |
---|---|---|
January | 6 | NetEase Games acquired SkyBox Labs. [13] |
17 | Unity Technologies laid off 284 employees. [14] | |
18 | Google's cloud streaming service Stadia closed, with all hardware and software purchases being refunded. [15] | |
February | 17 | Super Nintendo World opened to the public in Universal Studios Hollywood in California. [16] |
21–23 | Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosted the 2023 D.I.C.E. Summit and the 26th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards at the Resorts World Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, [17] Tim Schafer inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame. [18] | |
March | 20–24 | The Game Developers Conference returned to an all-physical format at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. [19] |
22 | Atari announced its intent to acquire Nightdive Studios for $10 million. [20] | |
27 | Nintendo closed the Nintendo eShop for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U. [21] | |
29 | Electronic Arts laid off about 800 staff. [22] | |
30 | The Entertainment Software Association announced that E3 2023 was cancelled due to lack of major publisher attendance. [23] | |
April | 3 | Legendary Entertainment secured TV and film rights of Capcom's Street Fighter franchise. [24] |
5 | Savvy Games Group announced its intent to acquire Scopely for $4.9 billion. [25] | |
19 | Epic Games acquired Brazil-based studio Aquiris. [26] | |
20 | Focus Entertainment acquired publisher studio Dovetail Games. [27] | |
Sony Interactive Entertainment acquired Firewalk Studios under its PlayStation Studios label. [28] | ||
May | 3 | Unity Technologies announced plans to cut 600 jobs. [29] |
June | 5 | Apple announced the Apple Vision Pro, a mixed reality headset, set to release in early 2024. [30] [31] |
8 | The 2023 Summer Game Fest was held through a combination of various in-person and streamed video events from over forty publishing partners at the YouTube Theater in Los Angeles. [32] | |
14 | Embracer Group began undergoing a large-scale restructuring program due to the failure of a planned US$2 billion deal, which would affect some of its studios and ongoing projects. [33] | |
25 | The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra performed a 10-year anniversary concert for The Game Awards, an end-of-the-year awards ceremony that has been running since 2014, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. [34] | |
July | 24 | Tencent announced its intent to acquire majority shares of Techland. [35] |
August | 10–12 | Quakecon returned as a live in-person event in Grapevine, Texas, following three years of digital formats due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [36] |
11–13 | The 2023 Pokémon World Championships took place at the Pacifico Yokohama convention center in Yokohama, Japan. [37] [38] | |
18 | Sega Sammy Group completed the acquisition of Rovio Entertainment for US$775M. [39] [40] | |
21 | Nintendo announced that Charles Martinet will be stepping back from recording voices for Mario and other characters. [41] | |
23–27 | The Gamescom convention took place at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. [42] | |
31 | As part of its restructuring, Embracer Group shuttered Volition. [43] | |
September | 1–4 | Nintendo of America hosted Nintendo Live, an in-person event that was introduced in Japan back in 2017, in Seattle. [44] |
7 | The ESA announced that there would be no E3 in 2024. [45] [46] | |
13 | Unity Technologies announced a new retroactive licensing fee for the Unity game engine to start in 2024, generating backlash within the indie game community. The criticism led Unity to rework the fee structure to less-aggressive terms one week later. [47] | |
21–24 | The Tokyo Game Show convention took place at the Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. [48] | |
27 | Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, announced his intent to leave Sony by April 2024. [49] | |
28 | Epic Games laid off about 16% of its workforce, approximately 850 employees, including divestment of Bandcamp and SuperAwesome. [50] | |
October | 4 | Nintendo announced that the online services for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U software will discontinue in early April 2024. [51] |
13 | The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft was completed following approval from the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority. [52] | |
Kevin Afghani was announced as the new voice of Mario and Luigi. [53] | ||
30 | Bungie laid off about 100 employees as part of cost-cutting measures due to lower player counts of Destiny 2 . [54] | |
31 | Atari announced its intent to acquire Digital Eclipse for $20 million. [55] | |
November | 3–4 | Blizzard Entertainment hosted BlizzCon, an in-person event, at the Anaheim Convention Center in California. [56] |
7 | Ubisoft laid off 124 employees worldwide, most from its Canadian studios. [57] | |
8 | Blizzard Entertainment announced its intent to transition the Overwatch League into a more traditional esports structure. [58] | |
15 | Series of layoffs were announced at Amazon Games, Digital Bros, Humble Games, and Kongregate. [59] | |
28 | Unity Technologies announced another set of layoffs consisting of 3.8% or 265 employees as part of a company "reset" following its licensing changes in September 2023. [60] | |
December | 7 | The Game Awards 2023, honoring the best video games of the year, took place at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. [61] |
11 | Free Radical Design was shut down as part of the fallout from Embracer Group's failed $2 billion deal. [62] | |
Google was found to have maintained an illegal monopoly in the Android market by a jury trial in Epic Games v. Google . [63] | ||
12 | The ESA confirmed that they would no longer hold E3 trade shows for the foreseeable future. [64] | |
15 | Activision Blizzard and the California Civil Rights Department agreed to a $54 million settlement in the lawsuit into sexual harassment at the company. [65] | |
19 | Insomniac Games suffered a data breach and had its ten-year plans released, as well as personnel information and several historical details around the company and Sony Interactive Entertainment, after failing to pay the hacking group to prevent its release. [66] [67] | |
29 | As part of Microsoft's acquisition, Bobby Kotick retired from Activision Blizzard after being its CEO for 32 years. [68] |
Month | Day | Console |
---|---|---|
January | 26 | Razer Edge |
February | 22 | PlayStation VR2 [90] [91] |
June | 13 | Asus ROG Ally |
October | 10 | Meta Quest 3 [92] [93] |
November | 15 | PlayStation Portal [94] |
16 | Steam Deck OLED [95] | |
17 | Atari 2600+ [96] |
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Title | Release / premiere date | Type | Distributor(s) | Franchise(s) | Original game publisher(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War | January 6, 2023 | Anime television series | Tokyo MX (Japan) | Trails | Nihon Falcom (Japan) Xseed Games (worldwide) | [1070] |
Nier: Automata Ver1.1a | January 8, 2023 | Drakengard | Square Enix | [1071] | ||
The Last of Us (season 1) | January 15, 2023 | Television series | HBO (United States) | The Last of Us | Sony Interactive Entertainment | [1072] |
Tetris | March 31, 2023 | Biopic film | Apple TV+ | Tetris | Atari Games | [1073] |
Alice Gear Aegis Expansion | April 3, 2023 | Anime television series | Tokyo MX (Japan) Hidive (worldwide except Asia) | Alice Gear Aegis | Colopl | [1074] |
The Super Mario Bros. Movie | April 5, 2023 | CG animated film | Universal Pictures | Mario | Nintendo | [1075] |
Pokémon Horizons: The Series | April 14, 2023 [h] | Anime television series | TV Tokyo (Japan) Netflix (United States) | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1077] |
Raid: Call of the Arbiter | May 18, 2023 | Limited animated webseries | YouTube | Raid: Shadow Legends | Plarium Games | [1078] |
Atelier Ryza: Ever Darkness & the Secret Hideout | July 1, 2023 | Anime television series | Tokyo MX (Japan) | Atelier | Gust Co. Ltd. (Japan) Koei Tecmo (worldwide) | [1079] |
Resident Evil: Death Island | July 7, 2023 | CG animated film | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | Resident Evil | Capcom | [1080] |
Twisted Metal | July 27, 2023 | Television series | Peacock | Twisted Metal | Sony Interactive Entertainment | [1081] |
The Sounds of Nightmares | August 22, 2023 | Podcast series | YouTube | Little Nightmares | Bandai Namco Entertainment | [1082] |
Gran Turismo | August 25, 2023 | Feature film | Sony Pictures | Gran Turismo | Sony Interactive Entertainment | [1083] |
Pokémon: Paldean Winds | September 6, 2023 | Limited animated webseries | YouTube | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1084] |
Castlevania: Nocturne | September 28, 2023 | Animated television series | Netflix | Castlevania | Konami | [1085] |
Shangri-La Frontier | October 1, 2023 | Anime television series | TBS (Japan) Crunchyroll (worldwide) | — | — | [1086] |
Arknights: Perish in Frost | October 6, 2023 | TV Tokyo (Japan) Crunchyroll (worldwide) | Arknights | Hypergryph (China) Yostar (worldwide) | [1087] | |
Good Night World | October 12, 2023 | Anime series | Netflix | — | — | [1088] |
Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match | October 17, 2023 | Animated film | Warner Bros. Home Entertainment | Mortal Kombat | Midway Games | [1089] |
Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix | October 19, 2023 | Anime series | Netflix | Far Cry | Ubisoft | [1090] |
Fill Your Pocket with Adventure | Television series | TV Tokyo (Japan) | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1091] | |
Detective Pikachu & the Mystery of the Missing Flan | October 25, 2023 | Animated short film | YouTube | Detective Pikachu Pokémon | [1092] | |
Five Nights at Freddy's | October 27, 2023 | Feature film | Universal Pictures | Five Nights at Freddy's | Scott Cawthon | [1093] |
Onimusha | November 2, 2023 | Anime series | Netflix | Onimusha | Capcom | [1094] |
Pokémon Concierge | December 28, 2023 | Stop-motion animated series | Pokémon | Nintendo The Pokémon Company | [1095] |
Marvelous USA Inc.,, is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. Founded in 2004, the company became a subsidiary of Japanese game company Marvelous in 2011, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related materials. In 2024, the company only retained the Xseed Games brand for third-party published titles.
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In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
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In the video game industry, 2024 saw many events including job losses extending from 2023, including large cuts from Microsoft Gaming, Electronic Arts, and Sony Interactive Entertainment, with over 10,000 jobs cut by May.
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Due out on February 23, 2023 in Japan.
March 3 in Europe, Oceania.
Due out on March 9.
Temirana: The Lucky Princess and the Tragic Knights first launched on April 27, 2023 in Japan.
The Switch version will follow later in 2023.
Stasis: Bone Totem first launched for PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG, and Humble Store on May 31, 2023.
Kill The Crows first launched for PC via Steam on August 21, 2023.
Open beta test begins August 11.
Amatsu Sora ni Saku first launched for PC on September 9, 2023.
Astrea: Six-Sided Oracles first launched for PC via Steam on September 21, 2023.
October 13 in Oceania.
Due out on October 5.
The Jackbox Party Pack 10, releasing on October 19.
Naheulbeuk's Dungeon Master first launched for PC via Steam on November 15, 2023.
Cupid Parasite: Sweet & Spicy Darling first launched in Japan on November 30, 2023.
Despera Drops first launched for Switch on November 30 in Japan.
Currently planned for a Q4 2023 release on PC, with the Switch version following a year later.
Zero to Dance Hero first launched for Switch on December 21, 2023.
RELEASE DATE: Dec 26, 2023
A release date of October 17, 2023.